Head down from the house to reach the
beach, or exit to either side to explore the island. The overworld
music is now 3-05 "Dark World" and just adds to the
gloomy mood. Most of the monsters are depressingly weak, too,
to the point that they die on their own within seconds of appearing.
Equip something with 'zombie' immunity if entering the desert,
though, since an undead Black Dragon will sometimes appear,
and aside from being durable enough to put up a fight, it can
cause an instant Game Over if you're not protected.

The suicidally weak monsters have
surprisingly potent items to steal, but since Celes can't, it doesn't
matter yet.

Anyway, head to the beach to catch fish
(grab one with A when next to it). There are four types of fish,
though not all will appear every time, and they go in the
Important Things (Rare) section of the inventory when caught.
Feeding them to Cid (automatic when talking to him) will affect
his health, and is also the only way to remove them from the
inventory. Additionally, talking to Cid resets the fish appearing
at the beach.

Interestingly, Cid keeps slipping out of bed
when Celes isn't watching. Maybe he's up to something that's
more important to him than his own life... Regardless, if his health
improves enough, he will recover. If it degrades too much, he will
die instead. One or the other must occur for the story to continue,
but, perhaps disappointingly, neither has any long-term effects,
other than Cid's survival, of course.

The following technical information on
Cid's health value comes from Djibriel's walkthrough. Cid's
health begins at the value of 120, but drops 1 point for every
second spent in a submap (i.e., not on the world map; entering
the menu or engaging in combat also pauses it). The
fast-moving fish (described as "tasty fish") add
32, the fish moving at normal speed will either add 16 (if
"ordinary fish") or subtract 4 (if "unappetizing
fish"), and the slow-moving fish (just "fish") subtract
16. Cid recovers (immediately) if his health rises to 256 or above,
or dies if it drops to 30 or below (but not until re-entering the room
if it was over 30 on arrival).

Cid's line when spoken to gives a
general idea of his current health.

231 to 255, where it appears that a verb
for boiling or getting excited was mistaken for a similar one for
drying up:

ｼﾄﾞ「何だか生きる希望が
わいてきたよ。

Cid: It's like my hopes of living
have been energized.

CID: My dear,
I...feel I'm not going to be around much longer...

201 to 230:

ｼﾄﾞ「ありがとう。毎日毎日。
{セリス}よ。

Cid: Day after day.
Thank you, {Celes}.

CID: {CELES}, thanks for all you've done for me!

161 to 200:

ｼﾄﾞ「ゴホッ！
大分よくなってきたよ。

Cid: *cough*!
I've gotten a lot better.

CID: Hackack!!
I feel a little better!

121 to 160:

ｼﾄﾞ「ゴーホッ ゴホッ
なかなか治らんのう。

Cid: *hack* *cough*
I'm just not recovering.

CID: Cough...wheeze...
I can't bear this any longer...

91 to 120:

ｼﾄﾞ「もしかすると…
長くないかもしれん……

Cid: I might not...
have much longer...

CID: I...I'm not long for this cruel new world...

61 to 90:

ｼﾄﾞ「ワシに何かあっても
…お前だけは望みをすてちゃいかん。
ゴホッ ゴホッ

Cid: Even if something happens to me
...don't you give up hope.
*cough* *cough*

CID: My worst nightmare is to think of you alone here on this wretched island...hack...wheeze!!

CID: Cough...hack...ACK!!
While I can still talk, I...wheeze...pant...want to thank you...cough!

As noted above, Cid will recover if his health
score reaches a high enough value.

If trying for this, I recommend using the
Dash Shoes and trying to catch, as quickly as possible, every
available fish except the slow-moving one. The other three
average over +14 per fish, so as long as you don't take too
long per trip, he should gradually improve.

She turns away, tears falling, and rushes
out of the room. Celes is not having a good day. The world
was torn apart, she was unconscious for a year, plants, animals,
and even monsters are dying off, there may be nothing left of the
world but this one little island, and now, right when they were moving
toward something resembling a normal family life, her surrogate
grandfather—possibly also the only other person alive in the
world—just died. She heads to the cliffside on the northern
cape, and finding an apparently dead bird lying there, remembers
Cid's earlier words.

ｼﾄﾞ「何人か生き残った島の人も
次々と希望を失い北の岬の崖から
身投げしよった。

Cid: Even the few survivors on the island lost
hope one after another and threw themselves
off the cliff on the northern cape.

CID: Those others who were here...
when they were feeling down they'd take a leap of faith from the cliffs up north...perked 'em right up!

{CELES}: Everyone's gone...
Even {LOCKE}, who promised to watch over me...

In case it wasn't obvious why she came here,
she throws herself off the cliff, crying as she falls. The music fades
out. Some time later, she comes to on the shoreline, rather less
dead than planned. A bird flies in, wearing a bandana.

{ｾﾘｽ}「ふ……
あなたが守ってくれたの？
何の希望もない私を助けて一体…

{Celes}: Phew...
Did you protect me?
Why save me when I have no hope...?

{CELES}: Phew...
Why did you nurse me back to health? Did I ever ask you to help me?!

"Forever Rachel" plays as
Celes notices the bandana... remember when Interceptor
was wounded...?